Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
Sharp teeth dug into Roman’s bicep as he squashed Puppy against his chest, the two of them rolling through the leaf litter until his back slammed into the wide trunk of another tree.
The impact pushed the air from his lungs, but he refused to weaken his hold on her, crushing her into his chest as he rolled on top of her.
Her teeth dug deeper into his skin as she all but screamed against him, kicking her legs as hard as she could in an effort to get away.
Her hands scrabbled at his sides, nails digging into his shirt and trying to slice through the flesh beneath.
The noises that spilled from her throat were purely animal, completely alien to him. She didn’t sound like a human.
She reeled back to slam her forehead into his chin, and his vision shone with stars before she darted forward to try to take a bite out of his throat that forced him to dodge, her teeth cutting into his shoulder.
Her scent was rot and ruin and sickness, and he wanted to help her, wanted to get her back to herself. The pain was nothing; her sharp little canines hurt, but Roman had been hurt worse before. By Sidian’s hands, Sidian’s blades, Sidian being ripped from his life, Sidian saying he hated him—
He doesn’t have to love me, Roman thought, getting a hand in Puppy’s hair so he could drag her off of him. I love him. I’ve always loved him. That’s what matters most to me.
She let out an indignant wail as Roman pinned her head to the earth, her mouth open against the grass as she hissed and snarled and drooled, blood smeared across her teeth. Her wild eyes met his, her pupils glossy and black, irises flaring crimson against her sickly white skin.
What had they done to her? Why do this to a person? What was it about Pack Kincaid that made them turn others into shells of their former selves? What kind of fucking monsters had their parents raised? What kind of demons were they, protected by a system designed to benefit them?
She arched her back off of the ground, sheer power overwhelming him slightly despite her small stature.
She wiggled a leg between them and kicked him in the chest, shoving him off of her as she scrabbled to her feet.
Her dress had torn up the side all the way to her hip, and a nasty cut oozed blood along her thigh.
As he watched, she wiped at her messy face, but she never took her eyes off of him.
Instead, she coiled herself, every lean muscle in her body preparing to launch her at him again.
He knew her, had met her in the past, but she didn’t remember him.
There was nothing behind those eyes. She wasn’t there anymore.
He was going to have to kill her.
No, he thought, taking a step back, hands raised, ready to defend himself as need be. Avoid it at all costs. There has to be a way to reach her.
“You have an advantage, Kane. As a prime, you’ll have an edge on them that you do not want to waste.”
Puppy sprinted forward so quickly that she almost blurred around the edges, letting out a shriek that made Roman think of a mountain lion as she charged him.
She threw her shoulder into his midsection but only succeeded in knocking him back, her nails digging into his back as she tried to force him down.
Fury intermingled with her scent, a righteous anger as Roman peeled her off of him, uncaring of the damage she did to his back. A roll of thunder made both of them twitch, and she took advantage, twisting her head to bite him on the forearm while one bare foot slammed into his thigh.
He’d never done it before. At the Pit, Jagger had told him precisely how it was performed and demonstrated it on the others, but Roman had been told not to do it, and so he never had. The urge to command an omega had never risen, and he didn’t need to command alphas.
But he needed to this time. Just this once. “Puppy, stop.”
He felt the dominance intermingle with his words, his voice deepening into something that was distinctly unfamiliar to his ears.
Puppy jerked to a halt, her small body still vibrating with far too much energy, her teeth lodged in his skin, but her eyes swiveled toward him as something flashed behind her gaze.
She let out a disgruntled noise but bit him no deeper, her panting harsh and hot against his torn skin.
When he gripped her by the back of the neck and squeezed, her mouth opened and she coughed, spluttering, smacking at her face with her still-shaking hands.
She was all adrenaline, all frenetic energy bound into a body too small for it.
He shifted so he could press his thumb under her jaw and felt the frantic thrum of her pulse, desperate and quick as the wingbeats of a hummingbird.
She growled up at him and tried to twist out of his hold, but all he had to do was exhale a short, harsh hiss and she fell still once again, though she never stopped baring her teeth.
“Easy,” he whispered, and her eyes narrowed as if she didn’t trust him. Her hands gripped him firmly even as he started to pull her back down toward the earth, never easing his grip for a moment. “We’re going to sit down. Sit. I know you don’t want to, but you don’t have a choice.”
The command brought her down slowly; he felt her go dead weight but refused to let her fall as he lowered her to the earth, kneeling in front of her.
A few fat raindrops smacked him on the cheeks, and then the heavens above opened up.
Puppy shivered as the downpour soaked both of them within moments, blinking furiously up at him as Roman settled himself cross-legged on the ground.
He didn’t have time for what he was doing, but he had to make time, dragging her into his lap like an ill-behaved child and wrapping his arms tight around her, keeping her bundled up against his chest. She was too hot, almost feverish in her feral state.
The comedown had been hell. He remembered that part, shaking apart in the back of the cop car.
“Easy,” he whispered again when she hissed at him, gripping the front of his shirt in one hand. “Easy, Puppy, it’s just me. I know it’s been a while, but I know you remember who I am.”
Her hand stilled as her head tilted, her brows furrowing as her jaw finally started to relax, her face smoothing into an expression of pure confusion.
Roman was not a dominant alpha. He was not a forceful person. He might have been for the right person, if they had ever come along, but that wasn’t who he was at heart. That was who Sidian was, who he had always been, and the two of them clicked because of that. Made for each other.
He exhaled and brushed Puppy’s hair back out of her face, trying to be as gentle with her as possible.
She was, if he remembered correctly, just a few years older than he was.
In her mid-twenties and having her life ripped away from her by the same monsters who had hurt his mate.
Having had her days chipped away one at a time in a haze of animal instinct that slowly ate away at her humanity, she had been strong, too.
She had to be in there. She had to be in there, because he didn’t know what to do if she wasn’t.
“It’s okay,” he tried to reassure her, and her eyes narrowed further, a fury of mistrust tangling in her bloody gaze. “I know it hurts, I know you’re confused and angry with me, but it’s okay. Just shh. Just calm down for a second, just breathe. You’re so hot. Doesn’t the rain feel nice?”
He tilted his head back, aware of just how dangerous a move it was to do so, and let his eyes flutter shut as he basked in the cool rain that showered his skin. It would have been pleasant if the night was warmer, but he could suck it up. He could deal with it.
When he opened his eyes, he saw Puppy looking up at the sky herself, her lips pursed. Slowly, she closed her eyes, and a bit of the dirt was slowly washed from her pallid skin.
She looked so sick. She probably needed to see a doctor, but Roman didn’t have one on hand.
All he had was himself, and for now, that would have to be enough.
With a careful touch, Roman brushed some of her damp hair back from her face, using his thumb to rub some of the dirt off of her cheeks.
She blinked at him as he did so, her eyelashes wet with water, her face twisting again.
Puppy didn’t understand what he was doing or why, but she wasn’t reading it as something inherently dangerous, and that was a start.
“Puppy?” Roman tried again, and when she just stared at him, he sighed. What the fuck was he even doing out there? His mate needed him. If he couldn’t bring Puppy back, he didn’t know what chance he stood of saving Sidian. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to help you.”
She simply stared at him, blinking raindrops out of her eyes.
He risked it, then. He risked shifting closer to her, and though he felt her tense up in his arms, he rested his forehead against hers and closed his eyes, trying to keep himself calm.
An alpha’s rumble was meant to soothe an omega or a child in need of care, and rarely did it work for anyone else.
It certainly didn’t work on other alphas, and nothing worked on betas, but Roman had little left to try.
He could have commanded her out of her feral state to the best of his ability, but care was what he was good at.
Not dominance. Not bossing people around. Not forcing them into subservience.
If that didn’t work, he had no other ideas. No other options. She would stay like that, and he would have to kill her to get back to his mate.
Delicate hands settled on his shoulders a moment before a quiet rumble joined his own.
Puppy’s rumble was choppy, broken up in her chest like she didn’t know how to make the noise anymore, but it was an alpha rumble just the same.
She drew closer to him of her own accord, then wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pressed her cheek against his, smoothing her hands down his back.
Roman wasn’t used to affection from another alpha, but he returned it, giving her a gentle squeeze as the rain continued to drench both of them and thunder rumbled overhead.
When he felt her hands wander up to the back of his head, he thought nothing of it until the straps of the muzzle gave free, and he tilted his head to shake it off, letting it thud into the grass below.
She leaned back first, and though her movements were clumsy and uncertain, she smoothed her own wet hair back out of her face, then tugged the tangles in front of herself and stared at them. Her eyes were still red, but they lacked that almost preternatural glow. Instead, she just looked sad.
“Are you back?” Roman asked her, relieved when she merely nodded her head, pressing her hands to her face with a low, hollow sound. “Hey, it’s all right. It was bad, but you survived it. You’re back now. Deep breaths. It’s okay. It’s going to be okay now.”
She peeked at him through her fingers as if to ask, Do you promise?
“I promise.” He gently took her by the wrists. “Come on. We have to get up.”
Despite her speed and fluid grace, Puppy stood haltingly like a baby deer trying to remember how to walk on its own.
She glanced around the forest and loosed a small whine, then wrapped her arms around herself.
How much of the place did she remember? Roman wasn’t sure, and given she didn’t seem like she wanted to talk, he didn’t think he would get an answer if he asked.
They could and would talk about it later if she wanted. For now, though… “Puppy, I need your help. Dax Kincaid has my mate. I need to save him, the other omega, and his daughter.”
She glanced at him, her brows furrowed as if she didn’t understand.
Patience. He had to have patience. She’d just come out of Goddess knew how long of a feral state, so he could be patient with her. “I need to kill them. First, I need to get into the house. Can you help me?”
Her face smoothed out then, expression solemn. And she gave him a single curt nod.
The speed with which she whipped off into the trees startled him, but Roman tore after her without a second thought.
He hoped the storm would disguise their arrival back at the house for as long as possible, that the Kincaids would have no idea they were coming as thunder rumbled and lightning flashed.
Two against eight. Two once-feral alphas against eight idiots. He liked those odds.